Extinction Rebellion cycle protest halts traffic around Bristol Airport

Dozens of protesters on bikes from the Extinction Rebellion group yesterday brought roads around Bristol Airport to a standstill in protest at plans to expand its capacity to 12 million passengers a year by the mid-2020s.

BBC News reports that on Saturday lunchtime, traffic queues of between two and three miles in length had built up in both directions on the A38 as around 70 protesters cycled around a roundabout near the entrance.

Organiser Oz Osbourne said he had not flown for two decades and encouraged others to make a flight-free pledge.

"If you join the flight-free pledge then it changes the way you think about who you are,” he said, adding that doing so would enable people to “have a greener lifestyle.”

The airport, which said that flights “were operating as normal” but encouraged passengers to allow longer to travel there, insists that its plans for expansion will mean that people will make fewer car journeys to London airports.

North Somerset Council is expected to make a planning decision on the proposed expansion by the end of the year.

Last week, Extinction Rebellion joined Stop Killing Cyclists in organising the National Funeral for the Unknown Cyclist which saw hundreds of cyclists ride in procession through Central London behind three horse-drawn hearses and hold a die-in at Trafalgar Square.

> Hundreds join Stop Killing Cyclists protest in London